Thursday, July 23, 2015

German Angst Means American Happiness for Artsploitation Films

GERMAN
ANGST Finds a Happy Home with Artsploitation Films

North
American film distribution company Artsploitation Films continues its focus on
provocative international genre movies with the North American acquisition of
this 3-film anthology which premiered at the 2015 Rotterdam Film Festival.

The
films – all of which deal with love, sex and death in a decidedly
unconventional way – were written and directed by three equally
controversial underground filmmakers: the legendary Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromantik (1987), The
Death King (1990)),
Andreas Marschall (Tears of Kali(2004), and Michal Kosakowski (Zero Killed (2014). As can be
expected from these directors, these tales are less romantic and much more
mystical and disturbing.

German
Angst includes:

“Final
Girl” (Jörg Buttgereit)

The
first episode, tells the story of a young girl who lives with her guinea pig in
a dirty apartment in Berlin. Seemingly a little lonely except for that bound and
gagged man tied to her bed.

“Make
a Wish” (Michal Kosakowski)

This
gut-wrenching tale involves a young deaf-mute couple who are attacked by a
group of skinhead hooligans. However, they are in possession of a mysterious talisman
that could help them.

“Alraune”
(Andreas Marschall)

The finale follows a man who stumbles upon a secret sex club that
promises the ultimate sexual experience by using a drug made from the roots of
the legendary Mandragora plant. But the ecstatic experiences have horrific
side-effects.

Artsploitation’s
president Ray Murray said, “German Angst is a singularly memorable film
experience. It is infused with amazingly dark, violent, and disturbing
ruminations on love and sex. And if this is German romance, let’s just say I
won’t be dating a German any time soon.” He commented, “Actually, in a time
when so many horror films are familiarly formulaic, it is amazing that this
“romantic” threesome is seismically more horrific.”

Matteo
Lovadina, CEO of Paris-based sales company Reel Suspects, said, “We are very
happy to work again with Artsploitation. They are the perfect fit for this film
that has proved to be a double player both on the art house and horror fields.
Raymond Murray and his team will surely release German Angst with all the
attention required by an already cult feature."

The triptych, which is having its North American Premiere at the
Fantasia Film Festival on July 18th and will continue its festival run. A
DVD/Blu-ray and VOD release is scheduled for the 1stquarter of 2016.